Summary. Vienna, Austria, is a gorgeous, high-class city on the Danube River known for it's Baroque architecture and cultural events. Vienna was the capital of the Hasburg Empire for almost their entire 650 year reign. The Hasburg's influence is on display through the City, including the Hasburg's grandiose palace, Schönbrunn Palace. Vienna is also known as the Capital of Classic Music. In addition to the famous Vienna Opera House, the City has dozens of music halls, one of which we enjoyed an intimate classical concert. Vienna is also filled with coffee shops with amazing coffee and pastries. Vienna's public transportation is easy to navigate with a metro line just outside our Air BnB.
Vienna Day Two. We tend to balance our time on trips so that we do not spend too much time in museums, even though we are definitely history connoisseurs. It just does not fit our style to spend too many hours or days inside and looking at glass cases, when we could be on foot and enjoying the countryside, local markets, or architecture of a given city. That being said, Vienna does have two sets of museums that we recommend seeing. Schönbrunn Palace (see separate blog post) and the Hofburg Palace and Hofburg Treasury. Hofburg Palace, much like the Hofburg Empire, is large and seemingly goes on forever. There are three main areas to visit, Sisi Museum, Imperial Apartments, and the Silver Collection. Next door is the Hofsburg Treasury, where you will view crown jewels and other treasures. Combined tickets to all of the above may be purchased for 40 euros per adult/ 27 per child.
After spending the morning at Hofburg Palace and Hofburg Treasury, we enjoyed lunch in the neighboring park, Volksgarten, before heading back to stroll on foot around central Vienna.
Central Vienna is lively and fun just on foot. Enjoy buskers, the architecture, horse drawn carriages, cafes, and if you prefer, shopping.
Demel: An afternoon treat included a stop at Demel. Est. in 1786, this Viennese bakery is exquisite and so very high-class Vienna. We have a bit of a sweet tooth so after seeing this bakery featured on a travel show, we made sure to make time to stop here. Demel is especially known for its apple strudel, which did not disappoint. The café has a lovely seating area. Enjoy your sweet with an amazing cup of coffee.
United Nations. In the last part of the afternoon, we headed over to take a guided tour of one of the four major offices of the United Nations. Important offices such as the UN's Atomic Energy Agency, Money Laundering Information Network, and Office of Outer Space Affairs are located on these grounds. The grounds are impressive and left us with a new found interest and appreciation of the work of the United Nations. The tour includes viewing actual conference centers where the member nations meet. At present, all tours must be booked in advance as part of their COVID-19 measures.
Classical Music Concert. After returning to our Air BnB for a couple hours of rest, we headed out again in our evening attire to see a classical music concert in Central Vienna. There are many options to choose from when selecting a concert to attend in Vienna. From what we understand though, it is hard to go wrong. We ended up buying same-day tickets to the Vienna Hofsburg Orchestra and had an absolutely enchanting experience. Arriving early, we secured seats up front and the players seemed to love playing for the boys, then pre-teens. Ticket prices appear to vary as we paid less in person than what is displayed on the website. Either way, it will be worth the ticket price as it was an unforgettable evening.